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Posts tagged as “Election”

Local elections postponed in Sri Lanka

AFP report, Feb 25, 2023COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s election commission indefinitely postponed local polls on Friday after the president — installed by parliament last year after his predecessor fled — refused to fund the vote. The March 9 polls would only have picked local councillors but would be the first electoral test for Ranil Wickremesinghe since he took office in July after months of protests over the island’s worst-ever economic crisis. They were seen by many…

Common candidate eludes parties with nomination day close

by Purushottam Poudel in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 24, 2023Despite a series of intra-party and inter-party parleys on Thursday, no decision could be made on the presidential candidate. Talks have intensified as the date for the presidential election draws close. A tripartite meeting between leaders of the CPN (Maoist Centre), Janata Samajbadi Party and CPN (Unified Socialist) on Thursday agreed to decide the presidential candidate only after a joint meeting with the Nepali Congress on…

Congress’ pick for President comes down to ‘Paudel v Sitaula’ contest

by Anil Giri in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 24, 2023With a green signal from Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and his party CPN (Moist Centre), the Nepali Congress is now gearing up to finalise its presidential candidate for the election slated for March 9. The nominations for presidential election will be filed on Saturday, but major parties are yet to decide their candidates. As the CPN-UML is expecting support from the current ruling parties—the Maoist…

Madhesh parties eye presidency as major forces remain at loggerheads

by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 23, 2023 In the run up to the presidential elections, Nepal’s political parties have begun their exercises to grab the top state position. Claims by several political parties to the presidential positions have thrown up multiple possibilities of who the next President and Vice President will be. The nominations for the top jobs are scheduled for Saturday. But the parties are still discussing the candidates as consensus…

Congress-Maoist alliance back in focus

by Purushottam Poudel in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 23, 2023Immediately after the Election Commission on Wednesday kicked off the presidential election process by publishing the voter list, a new kind of political understanding seemed to be in offing between the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre). A meeting between the two sets of leaders on Wednesday evening agreed to revive the old five-party alliance formed in July 2021 after CPN-UML chief KP Sharma Oli’s…

Maoists cotton to Congress, as Dahal, Oli size each other up

by Tika R Pradhan in The Kanthmandu Post, Feb 21, 2023Even with just four days to go for the filing of nominations for the presidential election, the CPN (Maoist Centre) is still keeping its cards close to its chest. There have been no clear indications about whom it will support as the new head of state, even though the party seems to be inching closer to the Nepali Congress on the issue. Leaders of the…

As big parties argue over consensus President, Loktantrik Samajbadi sees Thakur’s chances

by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 19, 2023As the presidential election nears, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party has been in negotiations with other political parties, projecting the party’s chair Mahantha Thakur as the next president. The discourse of a consensus president is making headlines of late. Thakur is rightly one such candidate, Loktantrik Samajbadi Party leaders say. Party’s executive committee member Keshav Jha said that they have been holding informal talks with the Congress,…

On presidency, Maoist Centre chair Dahal has feet in two boats

by Tika R Pradhan in the Kathmandu Post, Feb 17, 2023As the nomination day for the presidential election is approaching, the third largest party that leads the current government with the backing of the CPN-UML and later got the support of other parties including the Nepali Congress, the CPN (Maoist Centre) seems inching closer to the Congress. Some leaders of the party said the Maoist Centre could support the Nepali Congress in the presidential polls…

Will Maoist Centre ditch the UML for Congress?

by Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 5, 2023The ruling CPN (Maoist Centre) has decided to coordinate with ‘like-minded’ parties for the presidential election if major parties decline its proposal of finding a candidate based on national consensus. According to some leaders, this decision was taken by the party’s Standing Committee meeting that concluded on Saturday. With this decision, the Maoist Centre seems to be inching closer to Nepali Congress while distancing itself…

Maoists in bargaining mood as Congress, UML vie for President

by Purushottam Poudel in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 1, 2023The Election Commission on Monday announced March 9 as the date for the election of new President and March 17 for electing Vice President. With the commission’s announcement, competition among political parties for the coveted posts is likely to further heat up. While the two largest parties in the legislature, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML, each seek the help of the third-largest party, the CPN…

Congress fixated on presidency, demands prompt vote for the top post

Report in The Kathmandu Post, January 24, 2023The Nepali Congress, the largest party in Parliament that has been lobbying for amending the contradictory provisions in the law relating to presidential election, has demanded that the election be held on time. After giving a confidence vote to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on January 10, the Nepali Congress is attempting to break the ruling UML-Maoist alliance and expecting Dahal’s support for Congress’ bid for presidency. “We…